Bucky paced across the floor in the small dining room nervously.
Liesl had said she'd be home at 5:30 PM. It was almost six.
The door opened and he instantly walked towards her and asked, "Are you okay? What happened?"
An amused smile crossed her face. "It's nice to see you worry so much about me, James. I'm fine. I had to do some last minute hemming and make a house call to deliver the dress."
He sighed. "I'm sorry, Liesl."
"Buck, you have nothing to be sorry for. What's this?"
He smiled. "I know it's early, but I figured we could celebrate your birthday."
"Can't it wait until tomorrow? The point of a birthday is to celebrate on the day of."
"I'm gonna be busy at the docks tomorrow."
She pouted. "All day?"
"Don't do that, doll."
"Do what?"
"Say things that make me want to kiss you."
Liesl sighed. "Why all day?"
"I gotta work and then I have deliveries nearly all across New York to make."
"That's a shame. All right, let's celebrate tonight. Is Steve coming?"
"Nah, I wanted it to be just you and me."
"Bucky, he's our best friend!"
"When I told-" He stopped himself. "He was more than encouraging for this to be just you and me."
Liesl studied him a moment, searching for any tell. "Buck, what are you not telling me? Why is it just you and me?"
Ultimately, the impatience won out and Bucky held a small box in his hand.
He smiled as he said, "When we first met seven months short of nine years ago, I didn't know how important you'd become to me. You were a new face in a crowded city that I didn't think much of yet couldn't get off my mind. When you went after that bully, I knew me and Steve instantly had a new friend. You and I have always seemed to have fate pushing us towards each other, even long before either of us knew. So I ask you this. Liesl Ruth Schmidt. Will you marry me?"
Liesl nodded so quickly she feared her head would come clean off. "Yes, Bucky, I will."
He kissed her tenderly and slipped the ring on her left hand. "Here's to our future, doll."
"What a hopefully bright one it shall be."
YOU ARE READING
An Epitaph to War
ActionLiesl escaped Germany with her mother before her teenage years due to her father, a man in charge and the coming future. After all, German Jews were very much at risk, as were all who shared the same beliefs. The young girl meets two boys who becom...
